Survey of Sources

The sources from which information is to be derived about the life and teachings of Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya give us evidence which at the best is fragmentary and in many cases unreliable, chiefly because her biographers lived at a considerable distance of time after her death, and legend has played at least as great a part as history in the account given of the story of her life. This, however, is no uncommon thing where saints are concerned, be they Muslim or Christian, and the accounts given shew us at least the estimation in which Rabi’a was held by those who came after her, and are a clear indication that she had a great reputation during her life-time. Belonging to the sex to which Muslim theologians commonly attributed little capacity for thought, and less for religion, only a woman of outstanding character and gifts could have won a place among the greatest of the Sufi teachers, renowned as much for her teaching as for the blameless sanctity of her life. A small point, but one of great significance, is that she is constantly referred to by later writers as “Rabi’a” pure and simple, proving that both to the writers and to those for whom they wrote, she was a personality too well known to need further description. The earliest writer who mentions her is al-Jahiz (the Goggleeyed) of Başra (ob. A.D. 869), a well-known thinker, who gave his name to a sect of the Mu’tazilites. He wrote the Kitāb al-Hayawan (= The Book of Animals) and the Kitab al-Bayān wa al-Tabyin, a popular book on rhetoric. In both of these he mentions Rabi’a al-Qaysiyya. His references to her are of the first importance, because of his early date, and the fact that he may have known Rabi’a in his early childhood and in any case is likely to have known those who were personally acquainted with her. As a native of Başra, her own city, he would be in close touch with all types of religious thought and religious thinkers in that place.¹

Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj (ob. A.D. 988), who was born at Tūs, and was surnamed the “Peacock of the Poor”, mentions Rabi’a once in his Kitāb al-Luma ’, one of the earliest treatises on Sufism, which it was the author’s intention to justify as being in accordance with the Qur’an and the Traditions, and as the knowledge directly revealed by God to His saints. Al-Sarrāj is concerned to give the views of Sufi thinkers, not his own theories. He quotes from both books and oral traditions and in most cases states his authorities. Because of his early date and also because of his method of dealing with his subject, al-Sarrāj’s work is of great importance, though not so complete or so clear a statement of Sufi doctrine as the Qut al-Qulüb of his contemporary Abū Talib, nor so concise and readable as the Risala of al-Qushayri. Abū Tālib al-Makki (ob. A.D. 996), an ascetic who lived and taught in Mecca, Başra and Baghdad, was the author of the Qūt al-Qulüb (= The Food of the Hearts), another very early treatise on Sufism, and in it he mentions Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya several times, giving incidents from her life, referring to her associates and, most valuable of all, quoting her well-known verses on the “two loves”, and giving his own comments on these verses at considerable length. Abū Talib is a Sufi author of great authority, and he is also a careful writer, for we note that he admits that different authors have been suggested for the verses above mentioned, but he himself believes that Rabi’a was responsible for them. Another Sufi writer contemporary with these two was M. b. I. al-Kalābādhī (ob. c. A.D. 1000), the author of the “Kitab al-Ta’arruf li-Madhab ahl al-Tasawwuf”(= Book of Enquiry as to the Religion of the Sufis) and the “Ma’ani al-Akhbar”(= The Hidden Meanings of the Traditions), which are to be found only in MS. Both of these contain references to Rabi’a, and the former includes a version of her poem on Love, which gives a slightly different reading from that of Abū Tālib.^2,3,4,5

Al-Hamādhānī (ob. A.D. 1007), surnamed the “Wonder of the Age”, a native of Ecbatāna, in his “Shakwa al-Gharib”(= Complaint of the Stranger), of which only MSS. are available, speaks of Rabi’a’s engagement to ‘Abd al-Wahid b. Zayd, who was her contemporary and one of the same school of thought. Abū Nu’aym al-Isfahānī (ob. A.D. 1038) was one of the earliest to write a biography of the saints and his “Hilya al-Awliyā”, known also as the “Hilya al-Abrar”, is an authority of the greatest importance. There are several references to Rabi’a in Abū Nu’aym’s accounts of other early Sufis and there is said to be a complete biography of her in one of the MSS. of this work in Constantinople, but I have not yet been able to obtain a copy of it. If it could be found, it would probably throw much light on Rabi’a’s life and teachings, as being the earliest biography of her available. A very important authority is Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayri (ob. A.D. 1074), who was born at Naysābūr in A.H. 986. He made a study of Islamic mysticism and was also a teacher of the Traditions at Baghdad towards the end of his life. His Risāla (= Treatise) is one of the most valuable books of reference on Sufism written in Arabic and that he is a conscientious and reliable writer is proved by the fact that he is careful to quote his authorities and in the case of a traditional statement to give the chain of witnesses back to the original speaker. In the Risāla he mentions Rabi’a frequently, quoting her teaching or some anecdote illustrating her practice, in connection with most of the stages of the mystic Way. As we have noted, she is accepted by these leading writers as a Sufi teacher of recognised authority. Among the minor authorities who mention Rabi’a is al-Sarrāj al-Qārī (ob. A.D. 1106) of Baghdad, the writer of the Maşāri al-Ushshaq (= Poems about Lovers), including an account of a dream of Rabi’a’s not given by any earlier writer and an anecdote found also in Abū Nu’aym’s “Hilya”. Al-Ghazālī (ob. A.D. 1111), surnamed the “Proof of Islām ”, was born at Tūs in A.D. 1059 and is such an outstanding figure in Islamic literature that his testimony to Rabi’a is of the greatest value. He was a lecturer at Naysābūr and later a professor at Baghdad. Having turned from orthodox Islām to the study of Sufism, which he made it his business to reconcile, so far as he could, with the traditional faith, he went to live in Damascus, and after visiting Jerusalem and Alexandria, returned to his native town and died there. His greatest work is the Ihyā ‘Ulūm al-Din (= The Revivification of the Religious Sciences), in which he sets forth the Sufi doctrine as he conceived it, quoting in all cases the early Sufi teachers as his authorities. His work is scholarly and critical in the highest degree and he is too careful a writer for his conclusions not to be accepted as representing all the sources and knowledge to be obtained in his time, while his wide learning and also his extensive travels put a great deal of material at his disposal. He refers to Rabi’a (without any further distinguishing title) among the leading teachers of Sufism and accepts her teaching and her views as of at least equal authority with those of the great mystic shaykhs. He quotes the verses already referred to, and gives his own interpretation of them. It is on the stage of Love (on the mystic Way) that he considers her views as most important, and this is of great interest as an indication of her special contribution to this doctrine. The Persian writer M. b. al-Munawwar (ob. A.D. 1203) mentions Rabi’a in his Asrār al-Tawhid (= The Secrets of Unification), which is an account of the life and sayings of his great-grandfather, the mystic Abū Sa’id b. Abi al-Khayr, a very well-known Sufi teacher who died in A.D. 1049, and whose quatrains represent some of the most exquisite Persian mystical poetry that is known. The Asrar al-Tawhid sets forth very clearly the mystical doctrines of the Sufis of this period, based upon the teaching of those earlier Sufis of Rabi’a’s time. I. A. A. b. Ghānim al-Maqdīsī (ob. c. A.D. 1279) wrote a considerable number of works on Mysticism, amongst them the “Kashf al-Asrar wa manāqib al Abrar”(= The Unveiling of Mysteries and the Merits of the Righteous) in which he devotes a page to Rabi’a, giving some verses of hers not found in any other writer, but found in a very corrupt form in a MS. without title or author, under the heading “Tawba Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya”(= The Conversion of Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya). The lines as given by Maqdisī^6,7,8,9 are quite characteristic of Rabi’a and it seems probable that both these and the whole poem quoted in a corrupt form by this unnamed writer, are derived from some older source, now missing. The “Kashf al-Asrar” and the “Tawba” are found only in MS. By far the most extensive and complete biography of Rabi’a extant is that of the Persian poet Farid al-Din ‘Attār (ob. A.D. 1230), who was born near Nishāpūr about A.D. 1120. He followed the calling of a druggist when young, hence his surname of ‘Attār, but later became a contemplative and gained a deep knowledge of Sufism. His Tadhkirat al-Awliyā (= The Memoirs of the Saints) is the oldest book in Persian dealing exclusively with the lives of the saints. He gives no precise indication of the sources upon which he drew for his information, but no doubt he used earlier biographies or treatises on Sufism available to him, such as the “Hilya al-Awliya” of Abū Nu’aym and the Risāla of al-Qushayri already referred to. He is at pains to make his biographies as complete as possible, giving a full account not only of the lives of his subjects, but of their reputed miracles and their sayings and teachings, so that we may assume that he searched all possible sources in pursuit of information and doubtless he had access to documents long since destroyed. Obviously, legends had grown up around the memory of the saints he portrayed and he has not hesitated to insert them, and probably to add considerably to them, along with what may well rest on historical facts and, for the modern student of his work, it is no easy task to disentangle the two. Yet by inference we may find corroboration for many of his statements, apart from any documentary confirmation, e.g. he speaks of Rabi’a as having been a slave in her youth and gives a circumstantial account of the events which led to her being sold into slavery and what brought about her manumission. Other writers describe her as a freed woman. Now, it is a curious fact that Rabi’a, though given a tribal surname, is never called by the name of her father, as every unmarried Muslim woman is, to the present day. Her namesake, Rabi’a of Syria, who died fifty years before our Rabi’a, is always called Rabi’a bint Isma’il (= daughter of¹⁰ Ishmael) and details are given of her parentage. The fact that Rabi’a has no patronymic and is called only by the name of her tribe, is strong evidence of her having been a slave and therefore of no known parentage. The same would be the case to-day, in countries where slavery is prevalent or has prevailed up to recent years. Again, a Muslim freewoman in practice is always under the guardianship of a male relative, father, husband, brother or uncle, and this guardian has the right to marry his ward to whom he will, and though technically, according to Muslim law, her consent is necessary, actually she will not be allowed to remain unmarried. There is no suggestion in any of the biographies that Rabi’a was under any such guardianship, and on the contrary it is plain that she was free to refuse the offers of marriage made to her, and that she could — and did — live the celibate life is again strong proof that she had no known relatives, in her youth at least, to oblige her to follow the invariable custom for Muslim womanhood. A freed slave would be able to choose for herself and none would have the right to coerce her. So in this respect ‘Attār’s account is supported by other circumstances. A Sufi writer of considerable importance was Shihab al-Din ‘Umar b. A. al-Suhrawardi (ob. A.D. 1234), who studied Sufism in Başra, and was later known as a preacher and teacher in Baghdad. His best known work is the ‘Awārif al-Ma’arif (= The Bounties of Knowledge) and in this he mentions Rabi’a and quotes her teaching several times. J. Şibt Ibn al-Jawzi (ob. A.D. 1257) was the author of the “Mir’āt al-Zaman”(= The Mirror of the Age), containing a biography of Rabi’a of considerable length, which is of importance because it is most probably derived from the “Safwa al-Safwa”(= The Cream of the Cream) by his grandfather Ibn al-Jawzi, which is a résumé of the “Hilya” of Abū Nu’aym. No available MS. of the “Safwa al-Safwa” contains the biography of Rabi’a which is known to form part of the complete work, and therefore this account, though at second-hand, is of interest. One of the most famous of Rabi’a’s biographers is Ibn Khallikān (ob. A.D. 1282), who was born at Arbela in A.D. 1211. After¹¹ living for a time at Aleppo and Damascus, he went to Cairo and there began his great biographical dictionary, the Wafayat al-A’yān (= Obituaries of Eminent Men). In his preface he explains clearly his motive and his method. He says that he adopted the alphabetical order, because he judged it to be more convenient than the chronological (which is the order we usually find employed by Oriental biographers). He says further: I have spoken of all these whose names are familiar to the public and about whom questions are frequently asked… I have fixed, with all possible exactness, the dates of their birth and death; I have traced up their genealogy as high as I could… and I have cited the traits which may best serve to characterize each individual, such as noble actions, singular anecdotes, verses and letters, so that the reader may derive amusement from my work. Unfortunately, in his account of Rabi’a, he has confused her to some extent with Rabi’a, sometimes spelt Rā’iya, bint Ismā‘il of Syria. At the same time, his notice of her is very valuable, because he gives his sources and it is possible therefore to fall back on earlier authorities to supplement his statements. Ibn Khallikān has put posterity under a great obligation to him for his invaluable work. A well-known chronicler who mentions Rabi’a is al-Dhahabī (ob. A.D. 1348), who in his Mizān al-I’tidāl (= The Balance of the Equilibrium) quotes the opinion of her held by the traditionist Abū Dāwūd (ob. A.D. 889). The Sufi writer M. b. al-H. b. ‘Ali al-Isnawi Imād al-Din (ob. A.D. 1363), who studied in Cairo and Damascus and was also for some time a professor at Hamat, was the author of the Hayat al-Qulüb (= The Life of the Hearts) in which Rabi’a’s eschatological teaching is referred to. Another of these later Sufi writers was Yafi’i al-Shafi’i (ob. A.D. 1367), who was born in Yemen and travelled to Jerusalem, Damascus and Cairo, and died in Mecca. He wrote extensively and in his Rawd al-Riyāhīn fi þikāyāt al-Şāliķīn (= The Garden of the Perfumes in the Lives of the Virtuous “) he gives several of Rabi’a’s sayings. Among the Persian biographers who mention Rabi’a is Aflākī, contemporary with these two last mentioned. He was a Mevlevi¹² dervish, who wrote a history of Jalal al-Din Rūmi and his successors called “Manaqib al-‘Arifin”(= The Merits of the Gnostics) which is not very exact chronologically, but contains some interesting anecdotes, including one of Rabi’a not found elsewhere. Aflāki spent the years from A.D. 1310 to A.D. 1353 in compiling this history, but though he claims to have obtained his information from trustworthy witnesses, much of what he writes is plainly incredible. A writer who has a good deal to say of Rabi’a and quotes as hers verses not given elsewhere is al-Hurayfish (ob. A.D. 1398), an Egyptian. He wrote Al-Rawd al-Fā‘iq (= The Super-Excellent Garden), a collection of anecdotes about famous men and women, and apart from his specific account of Rabi’a, his personal opinion which prefaces it is interesting because in it he takes pains to prove that God had bestowed His favours and promises upon women, equally with men. He makes at least one mistake in regard to Rabi’a, but there is little evidence for or against his credibility as a whole. A late writer Taqī al-Din al-Hisni (ob. A.D. 1426), of Damascus, has written a whole book on the virtuous women of Islām called the “Siyar al-Salihāt ” (= Lives of Good Women), which contains an account of Rabi’a, but not very much that is original. He has evidently derived his information from both al-Jahiz and Ibn Khallikān, but his book is interesting because he has thought it worth while to devote a whole volume to the women saints and has found no lack of material. The Persian ‘Abd al-Rahmān, surnamed Jāmī from his birthplace in Khorasan (ob. A.D. 1492), was a man of great learning and a poet, and among his books wrote a history of famous saints entitled Nafahāt al-Uns (= The Breaths of Fellowship) which includes a section devoted to women, the first of whom is Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya. This history is a recension of an earlier work, the” Tabaqat al-Şūfiyya “(= The Classes of the Sufis) by ‘Abd Allah b. Muhammad al-Ansari (ob. A.D. 1088) which Jāmī originally intended to re-edit, but actually he limits himself to only the most prominent personalities among the Sufis. These” Tabaqat “exist in MS. in Calcutta, but there is no copy¹³ available in Europe. Another still earlier source, which he mentions in connection with the women saints, is the “Tabaqat al-Şūfiyya” of Abū ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (ob. A.D. 1021), which is extant in MS. but not in a complete form. Jāmī also made use of Yafi’i and Hujwiri and a number of other Sufi authors, including Ibn al-‘Arabi. Jāmī is undoubtedly a reputable authority and his wide learning and great ability would enable him to make the fullest use of all sources available in his time. A writer, who has been described as the “last great Muhammadan theosophist ”, “ Abd al-Wahhab al-Sha’rānī (ob. A.D. 1565), though a weaver by trade, living in Old Cairo, yet became a man of great learning. He has devoted some space in his Lawāqih al-Anwar (= The Manifestation of the Luminous Truths), otherwise called the al-Tabaqat al-Kubrā (= The Great Classes), to women saints, including Rabi’a, but he gives more details concerning women of Egypt, which is natural enough, since he was in a position to gain first-hand information about them, and their shrines, in many cases, were still in existence and were places of pilgrimage in his time. He derived some of his information from the” Futūhāt al-Makkiyya “(= The Meccan Revelations) of Ibn al-‘Arabi (ob. A.D. 1240). Dāwūd al-Antākī (ob. A.D. 1599), a late writer, who was born in Antioch and died at Mecca, wrote the Taz yīn al-Aswāq (= The Adorning of the Markets) for which he made use of al-Sarrāj’s Maṣāri already mentioned, but obviously he had other sources as well. He does not mention Rabi’a by name, but gives some verses by an unnamed woman which he links up with Rabi’a’s well-known lines on the” two loves “, attributing all to one unnamed author. His testimony is therefore very uncertain and, in the absence of confirmation from more reliable sources, cannot be accepted without qualification. An authority who is important, though so late as to be classed among modern writers, is ‘Abd al-Rā’ūf al-Munāwī (ob. A.D. 1622) of Cairo, who was a prolific writer. Among his works is” Al^{14,15,16,17,18} Kawakib al-Durriya “(= The Glittering Stars), in which he gives an account at length of several women saints, including Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya. Munāwī is a careful writer, and takes pains to avoid the confusion between the two Rabi’as, into which several writers have fallen. He mentions Ibn al-Jawzi as a source for Rabi’a’s biography and has evidently consulted al-Jahiz and al-Qushayri; his account is valuable, including much that is not found elsewhere, and it is probable that he had access to sources now lost and unavailable. Since his method is definitely critical, we may suppose that he took pains to consult sources which he believed to be authentic. The above represent the chief sources for Rabi’a’s life and teachings, and for the accounts of other women saints included in this book. With regard to Sufi doctrine, in addition to the works of Abū Tālib, al-Kalābādhi, Abū Nu’aym, al-Qushayri and al-Ghazālī and others already mentioned, another early writer, who does not mention Rabi’a, is quoted, namely alHujwīri (ob. c. A.D. 1079). He was born at Ghazna and was contemporary with al-Qushayri. He died at Lahore. In his great work, the Kashf al-Mahjūb (= The Unveiling of the Veiled), his aim is not, like that of al-Sarrāj in the Kitāb al-Luma ’, merely to report the opinions of previous Sufi thinkers, but to set forth an exhaustive treatise on Sufi doctrine, including his own personal views. He was already acquainted with the Kitāb al-Luma ‘and he also quotes from the” Tabaqat “of al-Sulami, and the Risala of al-Qushayri. As the oldest treatise in Persian on Sufism the Kashf al-Mahjūb is a work of the greatest value to all interested in the early development of mysticism in Islām. There are certain sources for the life and teachings of Rabi’a which at present are unavailable and which might be of the greatest value if they could be discovered. The first of these is the” Manaqib Rabi’a “(= Biography (lit. Merits) of Rabi’a), which has been heard of and presumably is in existence, but so far has baffled all efforts for its discovery.^19,20,21

If this work is early or by a writer who has the critical faculty and states the sources of his information, it is probable that it would throw much light upon Rabi’a’s personal history, for which so little really authentic material is available at present. Another missing authority which would undoubtedly be of great value is the section on women devotees and gnostics at the end of the “Tabaqat al-Şūfiyya” of Abū ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, to which Jāmī refers and to which there is also a reference in al-Munawwar’s book, especially referring to Rabi’a. Al-Sulami was born in Naysābūr in A.D. 941 and died in A.D. 1021. The MSS. of the “Tabaqat” which are extant do not appear to include this section on the women saints, and as al-Sulami is one of the earliest biographers of the Sufis, his account would be of great interest. Yet another missing authority is the complete MS. of the “Safwa al-Safwa”, already mentioned, of Ibn al-Jawzī, who was born at Baghdad, and who died in A.D. 1200. His book is derived from Abū Nu’aym’s “Hilya” and contains a biography of Rabi’a to which Ibn Khallikān refers in his Wafayat al-A’yan and to which al-Munāwī also refers. For the third part of this book, the sources above mentioned have been used, and also some authorities dealing with History and Geography and subjects of general interest, rather than with Sufis and Sufism. The “Chronicles of Mecca” are a collection of writings by authors of the ninth and tenth centuries, the first of whom was Al-Azrāqi (ob. A.D. 858). From these Chronicles information has been derived concerning the convents of Muslim women. Al-Balādhuri (ob. A.D. 892) was a Persian, but wrote in Arabic. His Kitāb al-Futūḥ al-Buldān gives an account of the early Muhammadan conquests and mentions the earliest Muslim saints, including some women. A source of much information concerning the women of pre-Islamic and early Islamic times is the celebrated Kitāb alAghānī (= The Book of Songs) of Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahānī (ob. A.D. 967), who was born at Isfahan. This work is a mine of^{22,23,24,25,26} invaluable information on early Islamic times and the writer frequently mentions the celebrated women of Islām. Though his book is primarily a collection of songs, he introduces a great many traditions and stories, and was near enough to the events he describes to be able to obtain authentic information. Al-Maqdīsī, born in A.D. 946 at Jerusalem, was a great traveller who set down an account of his travels in his “Ahsan ulTaqāsīm fi ma’rifat al-Aqālīm”(= The Best of the Divisions in Knowledge of the Climes), which is edited in the Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum. Another famous geographer to whom reference is made is Yāqūt (ob. A.D. 1229), who was by birth a Greek but was enslaved and became a Muslim. He travelled a good deal and wrote the Mu’jam al-Buldān (= Account of the Lands), a great geographical dictionary, which is full of valuable information. A theological writer to whom reference is made in this part of the book is M. b. M. al-‘Abdārī (ob. A.D. 1336), who has some strong comments to make on women in his Madkhal al-Shari ‘al-Sharif (= Introduction to the Sacred Law), which he writes from the point of view of an orthodox theologian. A very celebrated traveller to whom several references are made is Ibn Battuta (ob. A.D. 1377), a native of Tangier, who travelled in Europe, going as far as India and China, and also to East Africa and the Sudan, and making copious notes of all he observed, which he set down in his delightful and entertaining book of travels called Tuhfa al-Nuzzār fi Gharā’ib al-Amsār wa ‘Ajā’ib al-Asfār (= Rarities seen among the curiosities of cities and the marvels of travel), in which he notes especially the position and customs of women in foreign countries. Among the writers referred to is Ibn Khaldun (ob. A.D. 1406), described as “the greatest historical thinker of Islām”. He was born at Tunis. The most famous of his writings is the Muqaddima (= Prolegomena), which forms the first volume of a large general history. A writer of considerable importance where places and shrines are concerned is al-Maqrīzi (ob. A.D. 1442), a native of Cairo, who wrote a great work known as the Khitat (= Sites), on²⁷ the topography and history of Egypt. Although his work is incomplete and sometimes vague, he has preserved much valuable information for generations to come and is usually accurate and careful to use contemporary evidence when available. A history arranged chronologically, which is of great use for reference, is the Iṣāba fi tamyiz al-Şahāba (= Setting forth of the Excellences of the Companions) of Ibn Hajar (ob. A.D. 1449), a native of Ascalon. He traces his history from the time of the Prophet, and includes the celebrated women of Islām in his account. The above include all the important native authorities used; some obscure and late writers have been omitted.²⁸